Revealed: How Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder hopes to land his top transfer targets

Certainly, convincing “proven” top-flight footballers to join a club languishing at the bottom of the Premier League table and which, by his own admission, “most people” believe is destined for relegation will be the ultimate test of Chris Wilder’s persuasive skills.

But as Sheffield United finalised preparations for today’s visit of Everton 10 points adrift of safety, their manager explained why Bramall Lane, despite recent results, remains a desirable destination for ambitious and talented players.

“They’ll be short term,” Wilder told The Star, confirming his business during next month’s transfer window will be limited to loan rather than permanent deals. “Players will look, especially the domestic ones, at our performances. They’ll look at last year and how well the boys did, they’ll look at how we go about things and they will know that people enjoy it here.

“They are coming to play. They aren’t tying themselves to two or three year contracts and, as you can imagine, the lads we’re looking to bring in obviously aren’t playing where they are at the moment so they’ll be wanting to get minutes under their belt out there on the pitch. We can offer them that.”

After losing all but two of their opening 14 matches, Sunday’s draw at Brighton and Hove Albion was only their second of the campaign, Wilder admits United must recruit players capable of making “a real difference” if they are to extricate themselves from the predicament they find themselves in. It was a message he delivered during a meeting with chief executive Steve Bettis on Christmas Eve, convened to provide an update on the progress of talks with Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard and Omar Colley, the Sampdoria defender, whose agent has confessed his client is keen on a move to England.

Wilder, who is understood to have spoken to both since losing Sander Berge and Jack O’Connell to injury, conceded United’s recent form could complicate negotiations with targets abroad - where the search for a left-sided centre-half to cover for O’Connell is thought to be focused following October’s interest in Preston North End defender Ben Davies. That could be resurrected in the summer, when his contract at Deepdale is scheduled to expire. In the meantime, Wilder has told negotiators acting on United’s behalf to remind the likes of Colley that, despite still being without a win this term, his squad finished ninth in the table last season and have been competitive in the overwhelming majority of fixtures they have contested since returning to action three months ago.

“This isn’t a team that’s getting smashed,” Wilder said, stressing he still believes United can avoid dropping back into the Championship two years after being promoted. “There’s no white flag and the team is fighting. It’s shown that last time out, when we came so close to that first win despite playing most of the afternoon with 10 men.

“If these lads come in and they affect results then great, because that helps us. But it also helps them and their careers too.”

With John Lundstram joining O’Connell, Berge and Kean Bryan on the sidelines following his red card at the AMEX Stadium, the most pressing item on Wilder’s ‘in tray’ this week has been devising a way of preserving United’s 3-5-2 system for the clash with Carlo Ancelotti’s fourth placed side. Jayden Bogle, whose goal after coming on as a substitute against Albion, is expected to reap the rewards of his eye-catching shift in Sussex with Wilder predicting the former Derby County wing-back’s sudden rise to prominence, combined with the arrival of some fresh faces, will help long-serving members of his squad rediscover their best form. John Fleck has struggled since recovering from a back issue while Oliver Norwood now finds himself on the bench after previously being a mainstay of United’s starting eleven.

“It’s always made a difference, bringing new players in,” Wilder said. “Players always have to be on their toes and even with the results, we feel we’ve got a really talented group. There always has to be someone pushing, and that’s what Jayden has been doing to George (Baldock) who has been one of our more consistent players of late. We knew that if something happened to George, we’d have no hesitation bringing Jayden in. He ended up being in a slightly different position to the one he’s used to but did really well and showed what he’s about. A new face lifts everybody. That’s always been the case.”

Although Wilder accepts character is a prerequisite for anyone hoping to engineer a move to United, particularly given the pressure associated with a battle for survival, he suspects ability will ultimately decide who stays up and who goes down. Hence his reluctance to consider players without a proven pedigree or track record of success at elite level. Despite falling out of favour at Old Trafford, Lingard has been capped 24 times by England while Colley can point to 60 Serie A outings on a CV which also includes a spell with Berge’s former employers Genk. West Ham are also thought to be keen on Lingard.

“We’ve got to play through this, but we can’t just fight, we’ve also got to create,” Wilder said. “It’s isn’t always a big punch up, there has got to be some sort of play involved. The players, though, they’ve got to have the fight and the character because what we’re facing isn’t for the faint hearted. It will take some big performances.”

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